The Lazy Boy repair man just left. He was here to replace the springs on my husband's 10 year old reclining chair. It took the mr. 10 years of tv watching (the last couple with a banjo on his lap) to break those springs. The upholstery is still in pretty good shape but the repair man said the foam is starting to wear through the springs on the bottom.

Granted my husband spends a lot of time in that chair but it got me to wondering. Were recliners being made back before most furniture cushions were made out of foam? back when they were stuffing it with what? horse hair or something?

I recall my parents would have their living room furniture reupholstered every several years. (Mom thought slipcovers looked indigent but felt reupholstering had a "custom made" quality about it.)

Any hoot, what's the life expectancy of a recliner? If you've got one, how old is it?Has it been holding up well? as well as you expected?

Can you still park it in the living room or has it been banished to a less formal room?

If you had $$$ sitting around with a "replace recliner" label on it, how long would you expect the new throne to be worthy of a position in the living room?

We recently bought a new LaZboy leather recliner. They told us it would last 20 years as long as it was not abused. I drape a blanket over it when I'm not home because I've got a large dog that likes to sit in my chair to look out the window. I've had cheap ones from department stores that only lasted 3-4 years before they started falling apart, mechanically speaking. Of course that was when the kids were younger. Kids can be hard on furniture, that's for sure.

My leather Lane recliner is about 20 years old. No structural problems, but the daughter insists on cats in the house, so it looks like someone has used it for shotgun practice. I might have it reupholstered someday.

The life span is infinite. My partner won't throw hers in the dump. . . it lives downstairs as a really crude, bulky shelf. I sold my summer house so there's nowhere left for these things to go and die in peace. 'Cept for the bears in the summer, the dump is fairly peaceful.

I have a pre foam recliner.....not a lazy boy, and probably made in the late 30's It was stuffed with cotton fluff, and some sort of hair/ fiber mix.....I know, because my Rat Terrier puppy disemboweled it. Now it is stuffed with nothing.......Lorna

as much as I want them to stay, I want them to go out and make a living on their own too, our oldest is a freshman in college, the youngest is in 6th grade. I figure about 6 years. our oldest will probably be around till she gets out of school, the youngest will probably move as soon as she starts college

Funny thing about recliners and kids moving out (how's that for a tie-in?). When our daughter got married and left (in that order) she and her husband took my recliner. I had it for many, many years. Now the Mrs. and I have matching rocker/recliners.